


Axioms

by Tallulah



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Doubt, Gen, Moral Dilemmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28671894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallulah/pseuds/Tallulah
Summary: Matsuda knows what's true and what isn't. At first, anyway.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge 2020





	Axioms

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 12 Days of Christmas on Dreamwidth, prompt "ten important thoughts".

It’s easy at first. Kira’s a serial murderer (somehow). Murder is wrong. The National Police Agency was set up to stop criminals. This is a matter of national security and shaping up to be one of those cases people will talk about for decades, especially after the great detective L comes on board. This is stuff Matsuda doesn’t even need to list, he just knows it’s true.

Obviously after most of the task force quit things are harder. Matsuda understands that, though, too. Kira has killed FBI agents. If Kira can, he’ll kill them, too. And a lot of these guys have families, or don’t trust L, or just don’t want to die. Matsuda wonders (worries) sometimes what it’d be like to just drop dead one day and know Kira caused it, but he _does_ trust L, he’s proud to be working on this case, he’s proud to be working with Chief Yagami, so he mostly figures they’re going to be okay. If the hours are long and sometimes the work is scary, well, that’s what he signed up for when he joined the NPA, right?

L dies and the idea of death seems a lot more real. Kira could have killed them, but didn’t. Matsuda tries not to think about this too much. The case is still important, it’s still going to be talked about for years. The Chief will never give up, and nor will Light. And so few people are still working on this, Matsuda can’t quit now. 

The world starts to shift.

Matsuda goes online sometimes, finds Kira discussion threads, watches strangers screaming at each other about right and wrong. He reads the pro-Kira threads and sometimes he thinks, _these people are insane_ , and sometimes not. He reads the anti-Kira threads, looking for the perfect argument as though it’s something he knew once and forgot. The rest of the task force say they don’t care about what the general public are saying, they say it doesn’t matter whenever another country says they’re formally pledging allegiance to Kira. Matsuda wonders if they’re lying. 

Murder is wrong (but so many of the people Kira killed are murderers, and some people say it’s worth it, if those who kill and escape justice get what they deserve). 

The Chief dies. Matsuda hadn’t realised how much he was holding onto the thought that if the right side is going to prevail, something like that can’t happen. The Chief was a good man if anyone was. Murder is wrong (but it seems like you can still get away with it, even killing someone as good as that). Murder is wrong (but if it makes the world a better place…?) The NPA is there to stop criminals (but the task force haven’t had their organisation’s backing for a long time). He lists this stuff over and over again. He tries not to add to the list that Kira is trying to make the world a better place, and maybe it’s working.


End file.
